Colonnade

Colonnade (pronounced kol-uh-neyd)

(1) In architecture, a series of regularly spaced columns supporting an entablature and often one side of a roof.

(2) In design (usually as "colonnaded"), any array of upright structures which emulate the style of architectural colonnades. 

(3) A series of trees planted in a long row, as on each side of a driveway or road.

(4) The descriptor for the body style used in the US on the General Motors (GM) “A-Body” platform 1973-1977.

1718: From the French colonnade, from the Italian colonnato, from colonna (column), from the Latin columna (pillar), a collateral form of columen (top, summit), from the primitive Indo-European root kel- (to be prominent; hill).  The related term is colonnette which in architecture is a small slender column, sometimes merely decorative but also structural, supporting a beam or lintel). In interior decorating and furniture design, colonettes are also used, featuring in objects as diverse as chairs, tables and mantle-clocks, the motif noted by archeologists in excavations from Antiquity.  The –ette suffix was from the Middle English -ette, a borrowing from the Old French -ette, from the Latin -itta, the feminine form of -ittus.  It was used to form nouns meaning a smaller form of something.  Colonnade is a noun and colonnaded is an adjective; the noun plural is colannades.

Colonnades at Piazza San Pietro, leading to St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.

The noun peristyle described "a range or ranges of columns surrounding any part or place".  It dates from the 1610s and was from the mid sixteenth century French péristyle (row of columns surrounding a building), from the Classical Latin peristȳlum & peristȳlium, from the Ancient Greek περιστῡ́λιον (peristū́lion) & περίστυλον (perístulon), a noun use of the neuter form of περίστυλος (perístulos) (surrounded by columns), the construct being περί (perí) + στῦλος (stûlos) (pillar), from the primitive Indo-European root sta- (to stand, make or be firm).  In voodoo, it has the special meaning of “a sacred roofed courtyard with a central pillar (the potomitan), used to conduct ceremonies, either alone or as an adjunct to an enclosed temple or altar-room.

1974 Buick Century Luxus Colonnade Sedan

Under the traditional naming system used by General Motors (GM), the code "A-body" was use for the intermediate platform, a body-on-frame design in which the driveline and suspension were pre-assembled on a perimeter-frame chassis to which the body subsequently was attached.  The 1973-1977 GM A-Body cars were thus structurally similar to the highly regarded 1964-1972 models but the body style was radically different for a number of reasons, including some imposed by legislation.  One feature eliminated from the A-Body after 1973 was the hardtop, a body-style which used frameless side-windows and no central (B) pillar.  The much admired hardtop style had to be sacrificed (though the fameless-windows were carried-over) because the new federal legislation demanded improved roll-over protection, thus the need for B-pillars to form a kind of integral roll-cage.  This was the era when safety and anti-pollution regulation first became stringent and the 1973-1977 cars would be the first with the 5 mph (8 km/h) crash bumpers, most early versions of which looked something like battering rams.

1973 Oldsmobile Colonnade Cutlass.  In the 1970s, the Cutlass would become the best-selling car in the US but it's the previous generation A-Bodies (1964-1972) which are much sought.

General Motors dubbed the style “Colonnade”, an allusion to the array of three pillars where once there had been but two.  Built at the time in big numbers with production (spread between the Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile & Pontiac divisions) exceeding seven million, the survival rate was low compared with their more illustrious (though sometimes lethally unsafe) predecessors and because few attained “collectable” status, no industry of replacement and re-production parts emerged to make restorations conveniently possible.  While the Colonnade cars don’t mark the dawn of the “malaise era” for which the Carter administration is remembered (although in the “Crisis of Confidence” speech which is taken as its marker, Jimmy Carter (b 1924, US president 1977-1981) never spoke the word “malaise”), the hints are certainly there that worse was to come.

1977 Pontiac Can Am advertising was apparently the only time Pontiac officially used the popular "GOAT" (greatest of all time) allusion to the GTO.

One (not especially bright) highlight of the Colonnade years came almost at the end when Pontiac released the Can Am.  By 1977, Pontiac was no longer making genuinely fast or exciting cars (and in fairness, nor were many others) but with machines like the Firebird Trans-Am, they were certainly making stuff which looked the part and it was this flair for keeping-up-appearances which inspired the Can Am.  One model which had disappointed the Pontiac hierarchy was the LeMans which, even by Colonnade standards was an unhappy looking thing, the sloping rear end and buff-front apparently the work of two different committees, both comprised of not especially gifted members.  Fundamentally, it couldn’t be fixed but the Detroit’s marketing people had worked before with unpromising material and knew all about “tarting-up”.

1977 Pontiac Can Am.

The first proposal added a ducktail spoiler to the rear which was quite effectivein disguising the drooping lines and revived the “Judge” name, a muscle-car moniker from Pontiac’s recent past, added stripes and finished the thing in a lurid red which was close to the Judge’s signature shade.  Officially, the Pontiac management were said to be “unenthusiastic” but apparently they were appalled and knew something so obviously fake would not be well-received.  There the project might have died but the marketing team had a second go, adding the Firebird Trans Am’s 400 cubic inch (6.6 litre) V8, keeping the spoiler and changing the color to stark white, complemented with red, yellow and orange stripes, the Swiss-Guardesque combination looking better than it sounds.  The interior gained additional appointments, borrowed from the Grand Prix, one Pontiac which was selling well and the name came from a famous racing series which in its halcyon years had been contested by the FIA’s Group 7, unlimited displacement sports cars.  The Pontiac was a long way removed from that but at the time, so was just about everything and the project was duly approved for a mid-season (early 1977) introduction.

The spoiler which broke the mold: The 1977 Pontiac Can Am’s rear styling reflected GM’s thoughts on styling at the time, the same motifs appearing on contemporary Holdens in Australia (the HJ-HX-HZ sedans (1974-1980) and the HJ-HX Monaro coupés (1974-1977).

Sales began in January and the critical response was polite, the performance noted as being about as good as could be expected at the time and the handling receiving the usual praise, one improvement of the Colonnade era which was real.  In a sign of the times, only an automatic transmission was offered and, in deference to California’s more exacting anti-pollution rules, Can Ams sold there were fitted with the less powerful Oldsmobile 403 cubic inch (6.6 litre) V8 also used in high-altitude regions.  Sales projections were initially a modest 2500 units but the public clearly liked the look, dealers reporting high demand so the production schedule was doubled and the first batch of just over a 1000 cars was shipped.  Unfortunately, it was at this point the hand-crafted mold used to form the ducktail spoiler broke and such had been the rush to market than there was no spare.  Had the distinctive molding not been such a prominent part of the Can Am’s marketing materials, perhaps it might have been possible to proceed spoiler-less but it was decided to cancel the programme.  Whether or not it’s an industry myth, the story has always been that because the Can Am depended on so many parts (especially the interior) from the parts bin of the fast-selling (and highly profitable) Grand Prix, Pontiac decided they’d rather have more of them.  Total Can Am production was apparently 1377 units and they’re now regarded with more fondness than much of the machinery from the malaise era, the rarity and flamboyance of the Colonnade lines gaining them a small but seemingly secure niche in the lower reaches of the collector market, the best-preserved examples achieving over US$50,000 at auction.

Lindsay Lohan in Falling for Christmas (Netflix, 2022).  Any structure, small or large which adopts the architectural language of the colonnade (an array of vertical pillar-like structures) can be said to be colonnaded.  These are doors with colonnaded windows.

Hardtop, Hard Top & Hard-top

Hardtop & Hard Top or Hard-Top ( pronounced hahrd-top)

(1) In automotive design, as hardtop, a design in which no centre post (B-pillar) is used between the front and rear windows.

(2) As "hard top" or "hard top", a rigid, removable or retractable roof used on convertible cars (as distinct from the historically more common folding, soft-top).

(3) Mid twentieth-century US slang for an indoor cinema with a roof (as opposed to a drive-in).

1947-1949: A compound of US origin, hard + top.  Hard was from the Middle English hard, from the Old English heard, from the Proto-West Germanic hard(ī), from the Proto-Germanic harduz, from the primitive Indo-European kort-ús, from kret- (strong, powerful).  It was cognate with the German hart, the Swedish hård, the Ancient Greek κρατύς (kratús), the Sanskrit क्रतु (krátu) and the Avestan xratu.  Top was from the Middle English top & toppe, from the Old English top (top, highest part; summit; crest; tassel, tuft; (spinning) top, ball; a tuft or ball at the highest point of anything), from the Proto-Germanic tuppaz (braid, pigtail, end), from the primitive Indo-European dumb- (tail, rod, staff, penis).  It was cognate with the Scots tap (top), the North Frisian top, tap & tup (top), the Saterland Frisian Top (top), the West Frisian top (top), the Dutch top (top, summit, peak), the Low German Topp (top), the German Zopf (braid, pigtail, plait, top), the Swedish topp (top, peak, summit, tip) and the Icelandic toppur (top).

1970 Imperial LeBaron four-door hardtop (from Chrysler's so-called "fuselage" line).

Although the origins of the body-style can be traced to the early twentieth century, the hardtop, a two or four-door car without a central (B-pillar) post, became a recognizable model type in the late 1940s and, although never the biggest seller, was popular in the United States until the mid 1970s when down-sizing and safety legislation led to their extinction, the last being the full sized Chrysler lines of 1978.  European manufacturers too were drawn to the style and produced many coupes but only Mercedes-Benz and Facel Vega made four-door hardtops in any number, the former long maintaining several lines of hardtop coupés.

1965 Lincoln Continental four-door sedan (with centre (B) pillar).

The convention of use is that the fixed roofed vehicles without the centre (B)-pillars are called a hardtop whereas a removable or retractable roof for a convertible is either a hard top or, somewhat less commonly a hard-top.  The folding fabric roof is either a soft top or soft-top, both common forms; the word softtop probably doesn't exist although it has been used by manufacturers of this and that to describe various "tops" made of stuff not wholly solid.  In the mid-1990s, the decades-old idea of the folding metal roof was revived as an alternative to fabric.  The engineering was sound but some manufacturers have reverted to fabric, the advantages of solid materials outweighed by the drawbacks of weight, cost and complexity.  A solid, folding top is usually called a retractable roof or folding hardtop.

1957 Ford Fairlane Skyliner.

Designers had toyed with the idea of the solid retractable roof early in the twentieth century, and patents were applied for in the 1920s but the applications were allowed to lapse and it wouldn't be until 1932 one was granted in France, the first commercial release by Peugeot in 1934.  Other limited-production cars followed but it wasn't until 1957 one was sold in any volume, Ford's Fairlane Skyliner, using a system Ford developed but never used for the Continental Mark II (1956-1957) was an expensive top-of-the range model for two years.  It was expensive for a reason: the complexity of the electric system which raised and lowered the roof.  A marvel of what was still substantially the pre-electronic age, it used an array of motors, relays and switches, all connected with literally hundreds of feet of electrical cables in nine different colors.  Despite that, the system was reliable and could, if need be, be fixed by any competent auto-electrician who had the wiring schematic.  In its two-year run, nearly fifty-thousand were built.  The possibilities of nomenclature are interesting too.  With the hard top in place, the Skyliner becomes also a hardtop because there's no B pillar so it's a "hardtop" with a "hard top", something only word-nerds note. 

2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG with retractable metal roof.

After 1960, the concept was neglected, re-visited only by a handful of low-volume specialists or small production runs for the Japanese domestic market.  The car which more than any other turned the retractable roof into a mainstream product was the 1996 Mercedes-Benz SLK which began as a show car, the favorable response encouraging production.  Successful, over three generations, it was in the line-up for almost twenty-five years.

Roof-mounted hard top hoist: Mercedes-Benz 560 SL (R107).

The Fairlane Skyliner's top was notable for another reason: size and weight.  On small roadsters, even when made from steel, taking off and putting on a hard top could usually be done by someone of reasonable strength, the task made easier still if the thing instead was made from aluminum or fibreglass.  If large and heavy, it became impossible for one and difficult even for two; some of even the smaller hard tops (such as the Triumph Stag and the R107 Mercedes SL roadster) were famous heavyweights.  Many owners used trolley or ceiling-mounted hoists, some even electric but not all had the space, either for the hardware or the detached roof.

1962 Pontiac Catalina convertible with Riveria "Esquire" Series 300 hard top.

No manufacturer attempted a retractable hard top on the scale of the big Skyliner but at least one aftermarket supplier thought there might be demand for something large and detachable.  Riveria Inc, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, offered them between 1963-1964 for the big (then called full or standard-size) General Motors (GM) convertibles.  Such was GM’s production-line standardization, the entire range of models, spread over five divisions and three years, could be covered by just three variations (in length) of hard top.  Made from fibreglass with an external texture which emulated leather, weight was a reasonable 80 lb (30 kg) but the sheer size rendered them unmanageable for many and not all had storage for such a bulky item, the growth of the American automobile meaning garages accommodative but a few years earlier were now cramped.    

1962 Chevrolet Impala SS (Super Sport) convertible with Riveria "Esquire" Series 100 hard top.

Riveria offered their basic (100 series) hardtop in black or white, a more elaborately textured model (200 series) finished in gold or silver while the top of the range (300 series) used the same finishes but with simulated “landau” irons.  No modification was required to the car, the roof attaching to the standard convertible clamps, the soft-top remaining retracted.  Prices started at US$295 and the company seems to have attempted to interest GM's dealers in offering the hard tops as a dealer-fitter accessory but corporate interest must have been as muted as buyer response, Riveria ceasing operations in 1964.

1960 or 1961 Lincoln Continental four-door hardtop (pre-production).

One of the anomalies in the history of the four-door hardtops was that Lincoln, in its classic 1960s Continental, offered a a four-door pillared sedan, a by then unique four-door convertible and, late in the run, a two-door hardtop but no four-door hardtop.  That seemed curious because the structural engineering required to produce a four door hardtop already existed in the convertible coachwork and both Ford & Mercury had several in their ranges, as did the many divisions of GM & Chrysler.  According to the authoritative Curbside Classic, the four-door hardtop was cancelled almost on the eve of the model's release, the factory’s records indicating either ten or eleven were built (which seem to have been pre-production vehicles rather than prototypes) and photographs survive, some of which even appeared in general-release brochures with a B-pillar air-brushed in.  So late was the decision taken not to proceed that Lincoln had already printed service bulletins, parts lists and other documents, detailing the four-door (pillared) sedan (Body Code 53A), four-door convertible (74A) & four-door hardtop (57C).  Curbside Classic revealed that of the 57C count, either six or seven were converted to sedans while the fate of the "missing four" remains a mystery, there being nothing to suggest any of the phantom four ever reached public hands.  Collectors chase rarities like these but they’ve not been seen in 65-odd years so it’s presumed all were scrapped once the decision was taken not to proceed with production.

1966 Lincoln Continental two-door hardtop.

The consensus among Lincoln gurus is the rationale for the decision was based wholly on cost.  While the Edsel's failure in the late 1950s is well storied, it’s often forgotten that nor were the huge Lincolns of that era a success and, with the Ford Motor Company suddenly being run by the MBA-type “wizz kids”, the Lincoln brand too was considered for the axe.  After Lincoln booked a cumulative loss of US$60 million (then a great deal of money although that number, like the Edsel's US$250 million in red ink, might have been overstated to take advantage of the tax rules related to write-offs), that idea was considered but Lincoln was given one last chance at redemption, using what was actually a prototype Ford Thunderbird; that was the car which emerged as the memorable 1961 Lincoln.  But given the lukewarm reception to the last range, to there was no certainty of success so it seems the decision was taken to restrict the range to the pillared sedan and the four-door convertible, a breakdown on the production costs of the prototype four-door hardtops proving they would be much more expensive to produce (it would have had to use the convertible's intricate side-window assemblies).  Additionally, Curbside Classic reported, testing had revealed that at speed, the large expanse of metal in the roof was prone to distortion which, while barely perceptible, allowed some moisture intrusion through the window seals.  The only obvious solution was to use heavier gauge metal but that would have been expensive and a delay in the model's release and, with some uncertainty about the prospects of success for the brand, the decision was taken to prune the line-up.  While never the biggest sellers, the four-door hardtops had always attracted attention in showrooms but for that task, Lincoln anyway had something beyond the merely exclusive, they had the unique four-door convertible.

1976 Jaguar XJ 5.3C.  With the ugly vinyl removed, the lovely roof-line can be admired.  Although long habitually referred to as a "coupé", the factory called them the "XJ Two-Door Saloon", reserving the former designation for the E-Type (1961-1974) and XJ-S (later XJS) (1975-1996).

Coincidently, a decade later Jaguar in the UK faced a similar problem when developing the two-door hardtop version (1975-1977) of their XJ saloon (1968-1992).  It was a troubled time for the UK industry and although first displayed in 1973, it wasn't until 1975 the first were delivered.  One problem revealed in testing was the roof tended slightly to flex and while not a structural issue, because regulations had compelled the removal of lead from automotive paint, the movement in the metal could cause the now less flexible paint to craze and, under-capitalized, Jaguar (by then part of the doomed British Leyland conglomerate) didn't have the funds to undertake a costly re-design so the Q&D (quick & dirty) solution was to glue on a vinyl roof.  It marred the look but saved the car and modern paint can now cope so a number of owners have taken the opportunity to restore their XJC to the appearance the designers intended.  Other problems (the dubious window sealing and the inadequate door hinges, the latter carried over from the four-door range which used shorter, lighter doors) were never fixed.  It's an accident of history that in 1960 when the fate of the Lincoln four-door hardtop was being pondered, vinyl roofs (although they had been seen) were a few years away from entering the mainstream so presumably the engineers never contemplated gluing one on to try to "fix the flex" although, given the economic imperatives, perhaps even that wouldn't have allowed it to escape the axe.

End of the line: 1967 Lincoln Continental four-door convertible.

It did work, sales volumes after a slow start in 1961 growing to a level Lincoln had not enjoyed in years, comfortably out-selling Imperial even if never a challenge to Cadillac.  The four-door convertible's most famous owner was Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; US president 1963-1969) who would use it to drive visitors around his Texas ranch (often with can of Pearl beer in hand according to LBJ folklore).  While never a big seller (21,347 made over seven years and it achieved fewer than 4,000 sales even in its best year), it was the most publicized of the line and to this day remains a staple in film & television productions needing verisimilitude of the era.  The convertible was discontinued after 1967 when 2276 were built, the two-door hardtop introduced the year before out-selling it five to one.  The market had spoken; it would be the last convertible Lincoln ever produced and it's now a collectable, LBJ's 1964 model in 2024 selling at auction for US$200,000 and fully restored examples without a celebrity connection regularly trade at well into five figures, illustrating the magic of the coach-work.

John Cashman (aka "The Lincoln Guru") is acknowledged as the world's foremost authority on the 1961-1967 Lincoln Continental Convertibles.  Here, in a video provided when LBJ's car (in Arctic White (Code M) over Beige Leather (Trim 74))  was sold on the Bring-a-Trailer on-line auction site, he explains the electrical & mechanical intricacies of the machinery which handles the folding top and side windows.  The soft-top is a marvel of analogue-era mechanical engineering.

Deconstructing the oxymoronic  "pillared hardtop"

1970 Ford LTD four-door hardtop (left) and Ford's press release announcing the 1974 "pillared hardtop", September 1973. 

So it would seem settled a hard-top is a convertible’s removable roof made with rigid materials like metal or fibreglass while a hardtop is a car with no central pillar between the forward and rear side glass.  That would be fine except that in the 1970s, Ford decided there were also “pillared hardtops”, introducing the description on a four-door range built on their full-sized (a breed now extinct) corporate platform shared between 1968-1978 by Ford and Mercury.  The rationale for the name was that to differentiate between the conventional sedan which used frames around the side windows and the pillared hardtops which used the frameless assemblies familiar from their use in the traditional hardtops.  When the pillared hardtops were released, as part of the effort to comply with pending rollover standards, the two door hardtop switched to being a coupé with thick B-pillars, behind which sat a tall “opera window”, another of those motifs the US manufacturers for years found irresistible.

1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, at the time: “the last American convertible”.  Unlike the convertibles, the US industry's four-door hardtops were never resurrected from the 1970s coachwork cull.  The styling of the original FWD Eldorado (1967) was one of the US industry's finest (as long as buyers resisted ordering the disfiguring vinyl roof) which no subsequent version matched, descending first to the baroque before in the 1980s becoming an absurd caricature.  In 1976, the lines of “the last American convertible” were really quite restrained compared with the excess of earlier in the decade.

The wheels in the picture are a minor footnote in the history of US manufacturing.  When GM’s “big” FWD (front wheel drive) coupes debuted (the Oldsmobile Toronado for 1966, the Eldorado the following season), although the styling of both was eye-catching, it was the engineering which intrigued many.  On paper, coupling 7.0 litre (the Eldorado later to reach 8.2 (500 cubic inch)) V8s with FWD sounded at least courageous but even in the early, more powerful, versions GM managed remarkably well to tame the characteristics inherent in such a configuration and the transmission (which included a chain-drive!) proved as robust and the other heavy-duty Turbo-Hydramatics.  Unlike other ranges, the Toronado and Eldorado offered no options in wheel or wheel-cover design and because the buyer demographic was very different for those shopping for Mustangs, Corvettes and such, there was initially no interest from wheel manufactures in offering an alternative.  Being FWD, it would have required a different design for the mounting and with such a small potential market, none were tempted.  Later however, California’s Western Wheel Company adapted their “Cyclone Special” (a “turbine” style) and released it as the “Cyclone Eldorado”.  It wasn’t a big seller but the volumes must have been enough to justify continuation because Western also released a version for the 1979-1985 Eldorados although the two were not interchangeable, the bolt-circle 5 x 5" for the older, 5 x 4.75" for the newer.  The difference in the offset was corrected with a spacer while the wheels (Western casting #4056) were otherwise identical.  When Cadillac in the 1980s offered a factory fitted alloy wheel, that was the end of the line for Western's Cyclone Eldorado.

The “last American convertible” ceremony, Cadillac Clark Street Assembly Plant, Detroit, Michigan, 21 April 1976.

The phrase “last American convertible” was used by GM to promote the 1976 Eldorado and sales spiked, some to buyers who purchased the things as investments, assuming in years to come they’d have a collectable and book a tidy profit on-selling to those who wanted a (no longer available) big drop-top.  Not only did GM use the phrase as a marketing hook for when the last of the 1976 run rolled off the Detroit production line on 21 April, the PR department, having recognized a photo opportunity, conducted a ceremony, complete with a “THE END OF AN ERA 1916-1976) banner and a "LAST" Michigan license plate.  The final 200 Fleetwood Eldorado convertibles were “white on white on white”, identically finished in white with white soft-tops, white leather seat trim with red piping, white wheel covers, red carpeting & instrument panel; the red and blue hood accent stripes to marked the nation’s bicentennial.

The “last American convertible” ceremony, Cadillac Clark Street Assembly Plant, Detroit, Michigan, 21 April 1976.

Of course in 1984 a convertible returned to the Cadillac catalogue so some of those who had stashed away their 1976 models under wraps in climate controlled garages weren’t best pleased and litigation ensued, a class action filed against GM alleging the use of the (now clearly incorrect) phrase “last American convertible” had been “deceptive or misleading” in that it induced the plaintiffs to enter a contract which they’d not otherwise have undertaken.  The suit was dismissed on the basis of there being insufficient legal grounds to support the claim, the court ruling the phrase was a “non-actionable opinion” rather than a “factual claim”, supporting GM's contention it had been a creative expression rather than a strict statement of fact and thus did not fulfil the criteria for a deceptive advertising violation.  Additionally, the court found there was no actual harm caused to the class of plaintiffs as they failed to show they had suffered economic loss or that the advertisement had led them to make a purchase they would not otherwise have made.  That aspect of the judgment has since been criticized with dark hints it was one of those “what’s good for General Motors is good for the country” moments but the documentary evidence did suggest GM at the time genuinely believed the statement to be true.  What wasn’t brought before the court was that the industry wasn’t disappointed in the demise of the convertible, sales since the 1960s have fallen to the point the volumes simply didn’t justify the engineering effort required and even before the (never realized) threat of a government ban had been discussed, some models had already been withdrawn from production.

Ronald Reagan in riding boots & spurs with 1938 LaSalle Series 50 Convertible Coupe (one of 819 produced that year), Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank California, 1941.  LaSalle was the lower-priced (although marketed more as "sporty") "companion marque" to Cadillac and a survivor of GM's (Great Depression-induced) 1931 cull of brand-names.  The last LaSalle would be produced in 1940.  Mr Regan remained fond of Cadillacs and when president was instrumental is shifting the White House's presidential fleet from Lincolns to Cadillacs.

When ceasing production of the true four-door hardtops, Ford also dropped the convertible from the full-sized line, the industry orthodoxy at the time that a regulation outlawing the style was imminent, and such was the importance of the US market that expectation that accounted also for Mercedes-Benz not including a cabriolet when the S-Class (W116) was released in 1972, leaving the SL (R107; 1971-1989) roadster as the company’s only open car and it wasn’t until 1990 a four-seat cabriolet returned with the debut of the A124.  Any suggestion of outlawing convertibles ended with the election in 1980 of Ronald Reagan (1911-2004, US president 1981-1989).  A former governor of California with fond memories of drop-top motoring and a world-view that government should intervene in markets as little as possible, under his administration, convertibles returned (including Cadillacs) to US showrooms.  

The on-off ban on convertibles in the US is an amusing tale of interest to political scientists and economists  US federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) included FMVSS 208 (roll-over protection, published in 1970), one obvious implication of which was the banning of “real” convertibles in the US market and while the local manufacturers challenged in court some of the provisions in FMVSS 208, they made no attempt to challenge the demise of the convertible, their sales of the configuration having fallen to the point the body-style was no longer offered in most lines and even without the intervention of government it’s likely availability would anyway further have been restricted to the odd specialist product.  Indeed, Chevrolet, aware of the coming edict, had in 1968 released the coupe version of the third generation (C3) Corvette as a kind of targa, the so-called “T-top” with removable roof panels, the remaining structure essentially a “roll-bar able to “drive through” FMVSS 208.

Compliant and not with FMVSS 208 as drafted.  1978 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe with T-Top roof (left) and 1978 Chrysler New Yorker, the last of the four-door hardtops (right).  The indefinite extension of the "temporary exemption" of convertibles from FMVSS's roll-over standards created the curious anomaly that Chrysler could in theory have maintained a New Yorker convertible (had one existed) in production while being compelled to drop the four-door hardtop.  Market realities meant the federal court never had to set to resolve that and no manufacturer sought an exemption for the latter.    

In an example of the way government and industry in the US interact (mostly through the mechanism of “campaign financing” with lobbyists as the intermediaries), in 1971 the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) granted a “temporary exemption” for convertibles from the rollover parameters and originally the sunset clause was set to 31 August 1977 (ie, the end of the 1977 season), a date chosen because by then Detroit’s existing convertible lines were schedule to have reached their EoL (end of life).  The FMVSS 208 standards were otherwise maintained and that was what doomed to four-door hardtops which, lacking a central (B) pillar would have been prohibitively expensive to engineer into compliance.  However, late in 1972 an unexpected ruling from a federal court held that FMVSS 208 existed under the provisions of the NTMVSA (National Traffic & Motor Vehicle Safety Act (1966)) and this was found to contain no statutory basis which could extend to the banning of convertibles.  In fact, the judgment stated, the act obligated the agency “to afford such vehicles special consideration.”  Detroit no more expected that than did the NHTSA but while the manufacturers were sanguine about no longer producing convertibles, the regulators were compelled to decide what to do about their regulation and, given Detroit’s attitude, they decided to kick the can down the road and simply extend the “temporary” exemption, nominating no end-date.

1966 Lincoln Continental Sedan (left) and 1974 Buick Century Luxus Colonnade Hardtop Sedan (right).  Luxus was from the Latin luxus (extravagance) and appeared in several Germanic languages where it conveyed the idea of "luxury".   

With "pillared hardtops", it was actually only the ostensibly oxymoronic nomenclature which was novel, Ford’s Lincoln Continentals combining side windows with frames which lowered into the doors and a B pillar; Lincoln called these a sedan, then the familiar appellation in the US for all four-door models with a centre pillar.  Curiously, in the 1960s another descriptive layer appeared (though usually not used by the manufacturers): “post”.  Thus where a range included two-door hardtops with no pillar a coupés with one, there was among some to adopt “coupé” and “post coupé” as a means of differentiation and this spread, the term “post sedan” also still seen today in the collector markets.  Other manufacturers in the 1970s also used the combination of frameless side glass and a B-pillar but Ford’s adoption of “pillar hardtop was unique; All such models in General Motors’ (GM) “Colonnade” lines were originally described variously as “colonnade hardtop sedans” (Buick) or “colonnade hardtops” (Chevrolet, Oldsmobile & Pontiac) and the nickname was borrowed from architecture where colonnade refers to “a series of regularly spaced columns supporting an entablature and often one side of a roof”.  For whatever reasons, the advertising copy changed over the years, Buick shifting to “hardtop sedan”, Chevrolet & Oldsmobile to “sedan” and Pontiac “colonnade hardtop sedan”.  Pontiac was the last to cling to the use of “colonnade”; by the late 1970s the novelty has passed and the consumer is usually attracted by something “new”.  Because the GM range of sedans had for uprights (A, B & C-pillars plus a divided rear glass), the allusion was to these as “columns”.  Ford though, was a little tricky.  Their B-pillars were designed in such as way that the thick portion was recessed and dark, the silver centrepiece thin and more obvious, so with the windows raised, the cars could be mistaken for a classic hardtop.  It was a cheap trick but it was also clever, in etymological terms a “fake hardtop” but before long, there was a bit of a vogue for “fake soft-tops” which seems indisputably worse.

1975 Imperial LeBaron (left) and 1978 Chrysler New Yorker.  The big Chryslers were the last of the four-door hardtops produced in the US.

The Americans didn’t actually invent the pillarless hardtop style and although coach-builders on both sides of the Atlantic had built a handful in both two and four door form, in the post-war years it was Detroit which with gusto took to the motif.  The other geo-centre of hardtops was the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) which refers to vehicles produced (almost) exclusively for sale within Japan and rarely seen beyond except in diplomatic use, as private imports, or as part of the odd batch exported to special markets.  As an ecosystem, it exerts a special fascination for (1) those who study the Japanese industry and (2) those who gaze enviously on the desirable versions the RoW (rest of the world) was denied.  The range of high performance versions and variations in coachwork available in the JDM was wide and for those with a fondness for Japanese cars, the subject of cult-like veneration.  By the late 1970s, the handful of US four-door hardtops still on sale were hangovers from designs which dated from the late 1960s, behemoths anyway doomed by rising gas (petrol) prices and tightening emission controls; with the coming of 1979 (coincidently the year of the “second oil shock”) all were gone.  In the JDM however, the interest remained and endured into the 1990s.

1965 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa (two-door hardtop, left) and 1969 Mazda Luce Coupé (right).

The first Japanese cars to use the hardtop configuration were two-door coupés, the Toyota Corona the first in 1965 and Nissan and Mitsubishi soon followed.  One interesting thing during the era was the elegant Izuzu 117 Coupé (1968-1980), styled by the Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro (b 1938) which, with its slender B-pillar, anticipated Ford’s stylistic trick although there’s nothing to suggest this was ever part of the design brief.  Another of Giugiaro’s creations was the rare Mazda Luce Coupé (1968), a true hardtop which has the quirk of being Mazda’s only rotary-powered car to be configured with FWD.  Giugiaro’s lines were hardly original because essentially they duplicated (though few suggest "improved") those of the lovely second generation Chevrolet Corvair (1965-1969) and does illustrate what an outstanding compact the Corvair could have been if fitted with a conventional (front-engine / rear wheel drive (RWD)) drive-train.

1973 Nissan Cedric four-door Hardtop 2000 Custom Deluxe (KF230, left) and 1974 Toyota Crown Royal Saloon four-door Pillared Hardtop (2600 Series, right).

By 1972, Nissan released a version of the Laurel which was their first four-door although it was only the volume manufacturers for which the economics of scale of such things were attractive, the smaller players such as Honda and Subaru dabbling only with two-door models.  Toyota was the most smitten and by the late 1970s, there were hardtops in all the passenger car lines except the smallest and the exclusive Century, the company finding that for a relatively small investment, an increase in profit margins of over 10% was possible.  Toyota in 1974 also followed Ford’s example in using a “pillared hardtop” style for the up-market Crown, the exclusivity enhanced by a roofline lowered by 25 mm (1 inch); these days it’d be called a “four door coupé” (and etymologically that is correct, as Rover had already demonstrated with a "chop-top" which surprised many upon its release in 1962).  In the JDM, the last true four-door hardtops were built in the early 1990s but Subaru continued to offer the “pillared hardtop” style until 2010 and the extinction of the breed was most attributable to the shifting market preference for sports utility vehicles (SUV) and such.  In Australia, Mitsubishi between between 1996-2005 used frameless side-windows and a slim B-pillar on their Magna so it fitted the definition of a “pillar hardtop” although the term was never used in marketing, the term “hardtop” something Australians associated only with two-door coupés (Ford and Chrysler had actually the term as a model name in the 1960s & 1970s).  When the Magna was replaced by the doomed and dreary 380 (2005-2008), Mitsubishi reverted to window frames and chunky pillars.

Standard and Spezial coachwork on the Mercedes-Benz 300d (W189, 1957-1962).  The "standard" four-door hardtop was available throughout the run while the four-door Cabriolet D was offered (off and on) between 1958-1962 and the Spezials (landaulets, high-roofs et al), most of which were for state or diplomatic use, were made on a separate assembly line in 1960-1961.  The standard "greenhouse" (or glasshouse) cars are to the left, those with the high roof-line to the right.

Few European manufacturers attempted four-door hardtops and one of the handful was the 300d (W189, 1957-1962), a revised version of the W186 (300, 300b & 300c; 1951-1957) which came to be referred to as the "Adenauer" because several were used as state cars by Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967; chancellor of the FRG (West Germany) 1949-1963).  Although the coachwork never exactly embraced the lines of mid-century modernism, the integration of the lines of the 1950s with the pre-war motifs appealed to the target market (commerce, diplomacy and the old & rich) and on the platform the factory built various Spezials including long wheelbase "pullmans", landaulets, high-roof limousines and four-door cabriolets (Cabriolet D in the Daimler-Benz system).  The high roofline appeared sometimes on both the closed & open cars and even then, years before the assassination of John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963), the greenhouse sometimes featured “bullet-proof” glass.  As well as Chancellor Adenauer, the 300d is remembered also as the Popemobile (although not then labelled as such) of John XXIII (1881-1963; pope 1958-1963).

A tale of two rooflines, the Rover 3.5 (P5B): Saloon (left) and Coupé (left); plans to produce the Coupé as a four-door hardtop proved abortive. 

In the UK, Rover (a company with a history or adventurism in engineering which belies its staid image) tried to create a four-door hardtop as a more rakish version of their P5 sedan (3 Litre (P5, 1958-1957) & 3.5 Litre (P5B 1967-1973)) but were unable to perfect the sealing around the windows, something which afflicted also the lovely two-door versions (1975-1978) of the Jaguar & Daimler Series 2 XJs (1973-1979).  Rover instead in 1962 released a pillared version of the P5 with a lowered roof-line and some different interior fittings, named the four-door the "Coupé" which puzzled those who had become used to "coupes" being two-door machines but etymologically, Rover was correct.

Pillars, stunted pillars & "pillarless"

1959 Lancia Appia Series III

Actually, although an accepted part of engineering jargon, to speak of the classic four-door hardtops as “pillarless” is, in the narrow technical sense, misleading because almost all used a truncated B-pillar, ending at the belt-line where the greenhouse begins.  The stunted device was required to provide a secure anchor point for the rear door's hinges (or latches for both if suicide doors were used) and in the case of the latter, being of frameless construction, without the upright, the doors would be able to be locked in place only at the sill, the physics of which presents a challenge because even in vehicles with high torsional rigidity, there will be movement.  The true pillarless design was successfully executed by some but those manufacturers used doors with sturdy window frames, permitting latch points at both sill and roof, Lancia offering the configuration on a number of sedans including the Ardea (1939-1953), Aurelia (1950-1958) & Appia (1953-1963).  The approach demanded a more intricate locking mechanism but the engineering was simple and on the Lancias it worked and was reliable, buyers enjoying the ease of ingress & egress.  It's sad the company's later attachment to front wheel drive (FWD) ultimately doomed Lancia because in every other aspect of engineering, few others were as adept at producing such fine small-displacement vehicles.

1961 Facel Vega II (a two door hardtop with the unusual "feature" of the rear side-glass being hinged from the C-pillar).

Less successful with doors was the Facel Vega Excellence, built in two series between 1958-1964.  Facel Vega was a French company which was a pioneer in what proved for almost two decades the interesting and lucrative business of the trans-Atlantic hybrid, the combination of stylish European coachwork with cheap, refined, powerful and reliable American engine-transmission combinations.  Like most in the genre, the bulk of Facel Vega’s production was big (by European standards) coupés (and the odd cabriolet) and they enjoyed much success, the company doomed only when it augmented the range with the Facellia, a smaller car.  Conceptually, adding the smaller coupés & cabriolets was a good idea because it was obvious the gap in the market existed but the mistake was to pander to the feelings of politicians and use a French designed & built engine which proved not only fragile but so fundamentally flawed rectification was impossible.  By the time the car had been re-engineered to use the famously durable Volvo B18 engine, the combination of the cost of the warranty claims and reputational damage meant bankruptcy was impending and in 1964 the company ceased operation.  The surviving “big” Facel Vegas, powered by a variety of big-block Chrysler V8s, are now highly collectable and priced accordingly.

1960 Facel Vega Excellence EX1

Compared with that debacle, the problem besetting the Excellence was less serious but was embarrassing and, like the Facellia's unreliable engine, couldn’t be fixed.  The Excellence was a four-door sedan, a configuration also offered by a handful of other trans-Atlantic players (including Iso, DeTomaso & Monteverdi) and although volumes were low, because the platforms were elongations of those used on their coupés, production & development costs were modest so with high prices, profits were good.  Facel Vega however attempted what no others dared: combine eye-catching suicide doors, frameless side glass and coachwork which was truly pillarless, necessitating latching & locking mechanisms in the sills.  With the doors open, it was a dramatic scene of lush leather and highly polished burl walnut (which was actually painted metal) and the intricate lock mechanism was precisely machined and worked well… on a test bench.  Unfortunately, on the road, the pillarless centre section was inclined slightly to flex when subject to lateral forces (such as those imposed when turning corners) and this could release the locks, springing the doors open.  Owners reported this happening while turning corners and it should be remembered (1) lateral force increases as speed rises and (2) this was the pre-seatbelt era.  There appear to be no confirmed reports of unfortunate souls being ejected by centrifugal force through an suddenly open door (the author Albert Camus (1913–1960) was killed when the Facel Vega HK500 two-door coupé in which he was a passenger hit a tree, an accident unrelated to doors) but clearly the risk was there.  Revisions to the mechanism improved the security but the problem was never completely solved; despite that the factory did offer a revised second series Excellence in 1961, abandoning the dog-leg style windscreen and toning down the fins, both of which had become passé but in three years only a handful were sold.  By the time the factory was shuttered in 1964, total Excellence production stood at 148 EX1s (Series One; 1958-1961) & 8 EX2s (Series Two; 1961-1964).

The Mercedes-Benz R230 SL: Lindsay Lohan going topless (in an automotive sense) in 2005 SL 65 AMG with folding roof lowered (left), Ms Lohan's SL 65 AMG (with folding roof erected) later when on sale (centre) & 2009 SL 65 AMG Black Series with fixed-roof (right).

At the time, uniquely in the SL lineage, the R230 (2001-2011) was available with both a retractable hard top and with a fixed roof but no soft-top was ever offered (the configuration continued in the R231 (2012-2020) while the R232 (since 2021) reverted to fabric).  Having no B pillar, most of the R230s were thus a hardtop with a hard top but the SL 65 AMG Black Series (2008–2011, 400 of which were built, 175 for the US market, 225 for the RoW) used a fixed roof fabricated using a carbon fibre composite, something which contributed to the Black Series weighing some 250 kilograms (550 lb) less than the standard SL 65 AMG.  A production of 350 is sometimes quoted but those maintaining the registers insist the count was 400.  Of the road-going SLs built since 1954, the Black Series R230 was one of only three models sold without a retractable roof of some kind, the others being the original 300 SL Gullwing (W198, 1954-1957) and the “California coupé” option offered between 1967-1971 for the W113 (1963-1971) "Pagoda" roadster (and thus available only for the 250 SL (1966-1968) & 280 SL (1967-1971)).  The "California coupé" (a nickname from the market, the factory only ever using "SL Coupé") was simply an SL supplied with only the removable hard top and no soft-top, a folding bench seat included which was really suitable only for small children.  The name California was chosen presumably because of the association of the place with sunshine and hence a place where one could be confident it was safe to go for a drive without the fear of unexpected rain.  Despite the name, the California coupé was available outside the US (a few even built in right-hand drive form) and although the North American market absorbed most of the production, a remarkable number seem to exist in Scandinavia.

A classic roadster, the C3 Chevrolet Corvette L88: Convertible with soft-top lowered (top left), convertible with hard-top in place (top right), convertible with soft-top erected (bottom left) and coupé (roof with two removable panels (T-top)) (bottom right).  The four vehicles in these images account for 2.040816% of the 196 C3 L88 Corvettes produced (80 in 1968; 116 in 1969) and the L88 count constitutes .000361% of total C3 production.